The Travels of the Agnew Family

Amy turned 6 years old today. She's not allowed treats and she destroys any toys she's given so we just gave her lots of attention today.


Oh, yeah and a party hat.


We gave her a rope toy as a prop, we'll let her mom and dad decide if she can have it.






My mom loves dogs so we invited her and my brother up for dinner so she could spend some time with Amy.

The Walkerton Annual Classic Car & Truck Show is on today at the Agricultural Building. We decided to walk down to the show and take Amy with us.


Amy, it's hard to put my shoes on when you're trying to get pets.


There was a pretty good variety of cars at the show.


Including a number of Ford Model "A"s.

There's a little garden by the main door of the Agricultural building. These daylilies were in the garden.





This afternoon and evening was our neighbour's annual croquet tournament.


Ed did really well this year, he made it to the final round.

Ed, Amy and I loaded up the ATVs and drove to Sauble Beach. Ed and Rob are going ATVing while Ellen, Amy and I are going to the beach in Oliphant. The beach in Oliphant is actually part of a very shallow harbour and because it's so shallow it usually isn't very busy. As I was told that Amy is not a water dog I thought this would be the prefect spot for Amy to try out a beach.


Amy would walk around in the water for a few minutes, then it was full speed ahead out of the water.


She's not looking very happy being wet. So different from Zaph.

Rob and Ellen's daughter, son-in-law and grandson stopped by the cottage for dinner.


Hudson lives with four cats so he was quite curious about Amy.

Ed and I are helping to plan a car rally for the Probus group we belong to. As it is Bruce County's 150th birthday we thought we would look for historical places not too far from Walkerton (it's in Bruce County). Over the period of four days Ed and I loaded Amy into the RAV and drove a lot of back roads. The end result is Amy can now jump into the RAV without any problem ---- the first few trips in the RAV saw Ed lifting or boosting her in. We also found some historical places.


I took Amy for a walk one morning in the rain. Turns out she loooooovvvvveeeessss to be towel dried. You can keep the hairdryer.


We found the row of vultures on the fence posts to be interesting. Don't think we can expect them to be sitting there on the day of the car rally.


At another spot a neighbourhood dog came to check Amy out.


The facade of a Catholic Church. The graveyard remains but the building is gone. The tower was used to hang fire hoses so they could dry.


The Amy admiration society. She loves getting attention.


A pioneer graveyard. Not sure why but all of the stones were moved close together. Some of the headstones are obviously new.


Several years ago we found a geocache at an old graveyard. There was an old church by the graveyard that was no longer in use. We had trouble finding the church on our drive but eventually found the graveyard. It's easy to see why we couldn't find the church. Not sure what this new building is.

I've been threatening to wash the Miata for over a month. Whenever I had the time it was either raining or too hot and sunny. Today, it was overcast and a comfortable temperature and I had a supervisor to ensure that I did the job correctly.





Mia the Miata looks great and is back in the garage waiting for a sunny day so she can hit the open road.

I remembered something today. It's not fun to walk a dog in the rain especially when you didn't put on all your rain gear. We also learned something about Amy today. She doesn't like the blow dryer but she does enjoy a vigorous rub with a towel.



A few weeks ago my brother telephoned and told me that mom's dryer was no longer running. He changed fuses and tried a few other things but couldn't get it to run. Luckily, David didn't mind taking the wet laundry to the laundromat to dry it till Ed could make it down to Burlington with me. Ed brought a tool kit with me expecting that he'd get to tear the dryer apart. No such luck, the problem was a broken shaft inside the dryer knob. A bit of wire got the the knob back in working order and a spare universal knob was purchased as a back up. As he had lots of spare time, Ed did a few other minor repairs. Amy spent the time getting lots of attention.


I think my mom was more excited about Amy coming to visit than Ed fixing her dryer.

Amy coming to visit should be good for Ed and me. Not only are we getting a mega dog fix .... no I'm not ready to adopt a dog just yet .... we are also getting a lot of exercise. Amy likes to walk and if you walk quickly she doesn't stop to poke around.


Today is Victor's birthday ... I won't say how old he is just that it's a significant one. Victor usually ignores his birthday but this year he allowed Anne to invite their kids and grandkids for a family dinner last Sunday and to invite Ed and myself on his actual birthday. We were even allowed to bring a card and dessert. I found a musical candle so Victor wasn't subjected to an off key rendition of Happy Birthday.


Anne thought she might need cookies to encourage Amy to become friends with her. Not so --- Amy just walked in and walked up to Anne and demanded pets. Later they had snuggle time.

Our friends Sue and Bob are off on vacation so their dog Amy is spending her vacation with Ed and me.

My dog sense is not what it once was. Sometime in the afternoon Amy barked at me and started harassing me. I took her outside but I quickly figured out that wasn't what she wanted. When we went back inside and I looked at the clock and saw that it was 4:20 a little light went one. Amy was hungry and it was past her dinner time.





Amy is on vacation for two weeks so be warned there are a lot of Amy pictures coming your way.

This morning I had a nice walk in the Durham Conservation with my friend Sue and her golden retriever Amy. In the afternoon I played bridge with a nice group of women. Surprisingly I still felt like I needed a walk after dinner. Our walk led us to the river. Ed commented how still the water was.

The sun is shining and the temperature is just about right ---- not too hot not too cold --- perfect day for driving the Miata. Today we head north east.


One of today's geocaches took us to a small lake where Ed found an interesting cache.

We also drove through Markdale, home of Chapman's Ice Cream. In 2009 the production building was destroyed in a fire. The new building is aptly name Phoenix.


We ended up in Thornbury around lunch time and decided to find The Dam Pub which is owned by the aerobatics pilot Gord Price. Gord flew in the airshow in June. The Dam Pub is in an old house converted into a pub, with a large front patio. A very nice place for lunch.


After lunch we ended up at the Thornbury Harbour. Lots of boats here.


Also a nice pier. Seems to be a favourite spot for kids to just in the water.

We continued our search for geocaches ending up in Collingwood and Eugenia until Ed had finally found ten. During our search we walked a couple of nice trails, visited a couple of cemeteries and found a few lakes.

This year the Car Tour included six private collections and the restored Old Stone House. Two of the collections are new on the tour this year and the other four we've seen previously, but it is nice to see what has been added to the collections.


The Eidt Collection includes a number of cars and a lot of car memorabilia.


I always enjoy looking at the old motorbikes.

I really liked the two cars that were added to the Lang Collection.


1954 Kaiser Darrin. 435 cars were made during it's one year of production. Surprisingly 300 plus are still around in various conditions. The car has a fiberglass body, 6 cylinder Willy's F Head Motor, 3 position Landau Top and is the only American car with sliding (pocket) doors. This car was restored to exact original condition in 2005.


This Packard is also new to the collection but we didn't see a sign telling us about the car, so all we know is it's a Packard.


This year the Rotary Club of Walkerton hosted the car show and organized the Bruce County Smoked Pork Chop Dinner. The pork chop was delicious as was the rest of the dinner.

The kayaks and bikes didn't make it off the RAV yesterday. Today the bikes came off but only long enough for Ed to put them on Yvonne's bike rack and take them for a short drive through the RV park. Ed has been complaining about his bike rack since we bought new bikes last year and he has been coveting the type of bike rack Yvonne has. I feel a purchase coming on.

It actually rained more today than it did yesterday so no kayaking or biking again. Instead, we drove the short distance to Lions Head to pick up a few groceries --- Ed used up all the coffee. I was pleasantly surprised how nice the Lions Head Foodland was and how well it was stocked.

Ed took advantage of the drive and introduced Bob and Yvonne to geocaching. Experiencing geocaching for the first time in the rain is probably not the best way to get people interested in the activity.

Late yesterday afternoon we arrived back home and started packing again. The ATVs were washed and put back in the garage. The bicycle and kayak racks were dug out and put on the RAV. Dirty clothes were removed from our duffel bag and cleans clothes added. I also managed to bake a pie to take with me.

This morning we loaded the kayaks and bicycles and drove north once more. The forecast wasn't great for the next two days but cloudy and a 40% chance of rain seemed OK. When we were about three quarters of the way there it started raining --- not a good sign.


We have arrived.


Miles, the dog, has a problem with his back and can't walk too far. He gets excited when he sees the backpack come out --- Miles loves to watch the world go by from his dad's back. Not only was it a little moist out but it was also cool.

Happy Zaph Day! Today is the anniversary of Zaphod's birth. Ed and I took a moment to remember our good buddy. We still miss the big guy.

Ellen figured she could handle geocaching as you really don't need 2 arms to look for caches so off we went. The made showed a number of caches. Unfortunately a number of them were on the Bruce Trail and hiking wasn't in our plans for the day. The geocaching might not have been too successful but we did find a nice market and bakery --- good cookies and bread.

Breakfast eaten, lunches packed, rubber boots on.... It's time to go ATVing.


Somethings wrong here. Rob, I think you need to go the other way.


And they are off.


Ed and Rob were happy to find some improvements made to the trail --- a picnic table had been added making a nice spot to stop for a bite to eat.

Sauble Beach has a number of beach stores as well as gift stores. With the boys out playing, Ellen and I decided that it was a perfect time to take a leisurely stroll downtown to wander through the stores. I had been looking for a pair of women's swim trunks for kayaking and happily I found them in the bathing suit store. When I got home I read the washing instructions and chuckled.

Hand wash in cold water
Do not bleach
Do not twist or wring
Drip dry in shade
Do not iron
Do not use in spas and hot tubs

I guess I'm only suppose to wear the trunks for swimming on cloudy days and no warming up for me. When I mentioned this to a friend I was told read the label on your regular bathing suit. I guess if the manufacturer gives you enough warning you can't complain if the bath suit fades or wears out quickly.

Can't believe we're more than a week into July and this is the first time Ed and I have been to our neighbour's cottage in Sauble Beach.

In one way I feel bad descending on them as Ellen hurt her arm/shoulder and can't use your right arm at the moment ... but then I can do the food prep (Rob barbecues) and wash dishes so Ellen can take it easy. At least that was the theory --- Ellen's not real good at siting and watching others work. I also made Ellen some medicinal frozen strawberry daiquiris. Ed and I drank strawberry daiquiris one summer in the late 1980s and I some how remembered how I made them.


Ed and Rob are ATVing tomorrow so of course the ATVs came with us. Ryan and Dustin (Rob and Ellen's son and grandson) were at the cottage when we arrived and with my encouragement Dustin talked his grandpa into taking him for an ATV ride around the yard.

After dinner we went for a walk down to the beach and found a spot where someone had been busy.


One side.


The other side.


A second sand sculpture.

Our neighbour Barb is the owner of the Ontario Miss Mid-West & Princess Pageant. Earlier this summer, when Barb found out that Ed was the photographer for the Snowbird Airshow she asked if he would takes the photos at her pageant. Ed of course said yes.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this pageant. I have memories of bathing suit contests and talent shows from the beauty pageant that were televised when I was much younger. Of course, the movie Miss Congeniality always springs to mind when the word pageant is mentioned. Well, it turns out that pageants have really changed over the years. For starters the word beauty has been dropped. At least at this level of pageant it's all about poise, personality and public speaking. The contestants in the Miss category choose a charity, write a speech to explain why they chose the charity and if they win they will spend time over the next year hosting fund raisers in support of their charity.


The show began with a dance number preformed by the contestants in red and white attire. The theme for the pageant was Happy 150th Birthday Canada. Before the audience arrived the contestants posed for a photo. One of the things that I found very interesting was that as soon as a camera was pointed at a contestants she would pose and smile --- it seemed to be an automatic reaction.


The new queen and princess were crowned by last years queen and princess.


Here they are Miss Mid-West Queen and Mid-West Princess.


Our neighbour Barb.

The other day Ellen asked if Ed and I had finished our Explore the Bruce passports (Ellen and Rob finished their Explore the Bruce passports when Ed and I were in Ireland). It was a good thing that she asked as I had forgotten that this was something Ed and I wanted to do.

Before I forget again, Ed and I climbed into the Miata and headed north onto the Bruce Peninsula.

First stop was the Trading Post on the Indian land at Sauble Beach. Lake Huron is lot higher than it has been in years.


Cars are allowed to drive on the beach owned by the Indians. This year they have to use a loader to move sand around to keep the beach road open.


One of the stops always involves a hike on the Bruce Trail. When we pulled into the parking area we saw the red miata --- had to park beside it.


On the trail we came across this cabin that had seen better days.


Some interesting rock formations --- it reminded us of "the Burren" in Ireland.


Ed snuck in a bit of geocaching --- it brought us to this collection of unique birdhouses.

I know we've been to Black Creek Provincial Park a couple of times but I clearly remember the trip in 2013. The beach at the park was quite wide, buses of children from a local summer camp played volley ball at one of the beach and we played with Zaph at the other end of the beach. I clearly remember picking our way around the rocks and Ellen standing on one rock throwing a stick for Zaph. Just down the road were the remains of docks that had seen water in a number of years. As we know Lake Huron is high this year we decided to stop on our way home to see how different it looks.


The beach is much narrower and no rocks are visible. The children from the summer camp are still at the beach but I don't think they are playing volley ball on the beach this year.


The docks once again have water under them.

Ed and I did a 20km bike ride around town this morning. We were both impressed with ourselves as we didn't have to walk up the "big" hill.

This afternoon I drove in the Miata to the recreation centre in Hanover to play bridge. I had a few nondescript hands then I had some really nice hands which I unfortunately under bid.

Today was a pretty good day.

Another beautiful day, so we decided to drive to Port Elgin and bike to Southampton along the rail trail returning along the lake.


We found a park in Southampton and enjoyed our packed lunch. I decided to try a selfie. I need to keep practicing.

We took a few photos along the lake.



Our bikes and Ed.


Love what they did with the benches by the flag pole in Southampton.


There were a lot of geese at the harbour in Port Elgin.


These fuzzy ones were cute. I think they are really use to people as they didn't budge when we road almost beside them on our bikes.


The Port Elgin harbour.

We decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and take the Miata out for a spin, which really means drive the Miata while we look for geocaches.

Today we headed south west towards Point Clark and Lake Huron.


One of the cutest ways to celebrate Canada Day.


and of course you need the backside.


Searching for a geocache brought us to this beach. Here we saw some Mennonite or Amish young people. The girls were wading in the water wearing their long dresses while the young men were setting up a volleyball net using their trucks to help hold up the net.


Didn't find the geocache at this bridge but it was interesting with a great view.

It took longer than expect but Ed did find his 10 geocaches for the day.

Amy's (the golden retriever) dad Bob is the drummer in a local band. The band played in Walkerton around noon hour. I thought that since they were going to be in town today they might as well come and visit. Unfortunately (or maybe not), Amy and the drums won't fit in the car together, so I drove to Durham and picked Amy and Sue up. After a nice walk we came back to Walkerton and watched Bob drumming away.


Amy is ready to celebrate.


Mother Nature wasn't kind to the band. Part way through their set the sky opened up and the rain came down chasing a lot of people away. Fortunately, the rain didn't last long.

After taking Amy for another walk --- she likes to walk --- and the traditional Canada Day hamburger for dinner we drove to Cargill to watch the fireworks. Not only is it Canada's 150th birthday this year it is also Bruce County's 150th birthday. In case you didn't know, Ed and I live in Bruce County. Cargill is a village about a 10 minute drive from Walkerton, not sure why it was chosen for the Bruce County Canada Day celebration but it was.

We arrived earlier than we probably needed to, a little over 2 hours before the fireworks, but we got a great parking spot and a good vantage point for the fireworks.


In Cargill the fireworks are shot off on the other side of the pond.

Ed used his GoPro to shoot the fireworks show. So I grabbed a few screen shots.










The show was amazing. At one point it looked like the sky was filled with a million golden dragonflys and another time it appeared as is the sky was full of colour confetti.

We drove back to Walkerton where Bob and Sue picked up Bob's drums and drove home leaving Amy for a sleep over. The sleep over went well, so we think Amy will enjoy a two week visit when her parents go on vacation.